Professor Gearoid Millar will be presenting at the 62nd Annual Conference of the Conflict Research Society, taking place from the 17th-19th of September at the University of Kent. The theme of the conference is 'Legitimacy in Conflict and Peace'.
Prof. Millar will be presenting a paper entitled 'The Diminishing Legitimacy of Peace Intervention'. Drawing on interviews with peace work professionals around the world Prof. Millar's paper argues that while the concept of 'legitimacy' is central to successful peace work, the concept is contested and changes over time, as is visible in peace work today.
Prof. Millar writes: "The paper views legitimacy not as an inherent characteristic of any particular structure of authority (legal, political, social, culture or economic), but as a judgement that is applied to decisions, acts, and actors by an audience. ... Critically, this means that different international actors and interventions may compete for legitimacy with different audiences within, and also outside, the conflict affected spaces in which they attempt to intervene."